Door-controlling device



April 21, 1925.

1,534,981 M. M. MCKINNEY DOOR CONTROLLING EVICE Filed March 24, 1924 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 jycz'fmzyf,

ATTORNEY D Amig 2i, 1925f DOOR CONTROLLING DEVI CE Filed?- Mroh 24, 1924 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 IN VEN TOR.

Patented Apr. 21, 1925.

UNITED STATES MERLE MELVIN MCKINNEY, F LAWRENCE, KANSAS.

DOOR-CONTROLLING DEVICE.

Application filed March 24, 1924. Serial No. 701,499,

To all 'Lo/rom. it may concern.:

Be it known that I, MERLE MnLvIN MC- KTNNEY, a citizen of the United States, residing at Lawrence, in the county of Douglas and State of Kansas, have'invented new and useful Improvements in Door-Com trolling Devices, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to door controlling devices, being adapted particularly for use in the operation of large and heavy hay mow doors.

The primary object of the invention is to provide means of a simple and improved nature whereby sliding` doors may be quickly and easily controlled, moved either to open or closed position, with aminimum of physical effort.

A further object of the invention is to provide a device of this character and for the purpose stated which combines simplicity of construction with eiiiciency of operation, which involves the use of mechanism so constructed and assembled as to obviate the possibility of breakage or derangement of any of the parts thereof, which requires little or no attention after once being properly installed, and the installation of which may be made at a minimum of cost.

TWith these and other objects in view, the invention consists of the features of construction, combination and arrangement of parts, hereinafter fully described and. claimed, reference heilig had to the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a fragmentary elevation, parts broken away, of a familiar type of barn or hay mow and illustrating as applied thereto door operating mechanism embodying the invention,

Figure 2 is a similar view shoe-ing the doors in changed position,

Figure 3 is a transverse sectional view taken substantially upon line 3*-3 of Figure 1 and Figure fl is a fragu'ientary sectional view on a slightly enlarged scale, taken substantially upon line 4 4 of Figure 2.

Referring now more particularly to the drawings. the barn 5 is provided in an end thereof and in its upper part with a doorway or opening 6, closed by sectional doors indicated at 7 and 8. These doors are of such size as to jointly close the doorway 6 when moved to the limit in one direction,

and which move away from each other when it is desired to open the door.

The covering of the barn in this instance is' a pitch roof indicated at 9, and a ridge beam or support 10 constitutes an anchoring means for the upper portions of the roof sides. Supported suitably immediately beneath the roof 9 and adjacent to the wall containingthe doorway G are tracks 11 within which carriage members 12 travel, and these carriage members are secured at their lower ends to the doors '7 and 8. The trackways 11 are disposed parallel, or substantially so. with those portionsof the roof which they underlie, and the tendency of the doors 7--8, therefore, is to gravitate to the outer ends of the trackways.

Each of the doors 7-8 is provided upon its inner surface and adjacent to the upper portion thereof with a pulley 13, over which a cable or rope 14E passes.

. One end of the cable or rope 141 is secured as at 15 to the support or ridge beam 10, and from this point of connection the rope passes to and around the pulley 13 of one of the doors; then back to the ridge beam and over guide pulleys 16 carried thereby to and around the pulley 13 upon the opposite door; from whence it passes back to the ridge beam and over a pulley 17 attached thereto. The cable then reaches down to a windlass or drum indicated at 18 in position for convenient manual operation. This windlass or drum may be equipped with an operating handle 19, and a pawl and ratchet mechanism represented generally at 20 to facilitate operation of the device.

It will be observed that the ridge beam or fixed support 10 is positioned midway of the door opening 6, and pull applied to the cable or rope 111 will cause the doors 7--3 to be drawn toward the ridge beam and into closed position. The movement of the two doors is uniform, due to the particular manner in which the cable is trained over the several sheaves or pulleys.

Assuming the doors to be in closed position, as shown in Figure 1, they are maintained so by allowing the pawl of the pawl and ratchet mechanism to remain engaged with the teeth of the ratchet member. When it is desired to open the doors, it is but necessary to withdraw the pawl from engagement wit-hthe ratchet teeth, wherelll() upon the doors will gravitate to open posi t1on, as shown 1n Figure 2. During this operation, 1t may be advisable to govern the unwinding movement of the Windlass,

tive movement of the windlass. `Thenait isr desired to close the doors, the operating handle 19 is grasped and turned in clockwise direction, whereupon the cable will be Wound upon the drum and the doors will travel at uniform speedtovvard each other until they abut in closed position.

From the foregoing it is apparent Vthat l have providedvdoor controlling or oper ating means which is of exceedingly simple construction, which will operate efficiently, and Which enables the movements of vthe doors to be readily and accurately controlled with but a minimum of physical effort.

llhile `the above is a description of the invention in its preferred.embodiment, it will be understood that variations in the construction land arrangement of parts may be resorted to if desired Without departing from the spirit of the invention as dclined by the claim.

Having thus fully described my inven tion, I claim The combination with a building structure having sloping roof sides leading to a ridgevbeam at the roof peak, and having a doorway in one of the sides thereof intersecting the roofpeal, of guide pulleys carried by the ridge beam, trackivays mounted on the sloping roofsides, oppositely movable door sections provided With carriages to, travel on said trackways, said door sections being movable by gravity to open posi;- tion, a supportingpulley onthe ridge beam, a guidepulley on each door section, a rope or cable iiXed at one endto the ridge beam passing ar uuid the guide pulley on one of the door sections and over the guide pulleys on the ridge'beam, and thence around the guide pulleyon the other door section and the supporting pulley on the ridge beam, and a .ivindlass to which' the free end ot said rope or cable is connected.

vIn testimony whereof Iaflix my signa-` ture.

' MER-LE MELVIN MGKINNEY. 

